Road tripping the Pacific North West

The idea was thought up over a few beers. We sat in the dining room at the Villa and planned out our next adventure. We’d fly out to the West Coast and road trip from Portland to Seattle exploring the mountains, the ocean, the city all while eating our way to the next stop. I planned to only take my cell phone and go with the flow….and that is just what we did. Equipped with my Iphone camera, a fanny pack and an awesome attitude, we set out and covered lots of ground! Exploring Seattle by camping and also staying in various hotels, including Lake Union hotel, having a feel for both the industrial side of Seattle and also a feel for it’s beautiful nature and exquisite greenery. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve probably seen a few of these already!

I met her a little over 3 years ago when the phone rang and it was her asking about wedding coverage. She had gotten my name from a wedding venue as a referral. We chatted on the phone about her engagement session and how she REALLY wanted to go to Ricketts Glen. I’m always up for an adventure so I said, “let’s go!” and that’s really how the friend ship started! We drove over 3 hours and THEN hiked close to 6 miles total to get those shots. I went on to shoot her wedding and soon after we’d meet up for long walks on the trail. Who would have thought all these years later, a phone call from client would turn into another adventure and another “let’s go!” I’m a firm believer that people come into (or out of) your life in the perfect timing and I’m so grateful for the timing of our friendship!

I also have to give a shoutout to Greg for being such an amazing husband and holding down the fort while I was away. It’s so nice to have a partner who can take care of his kids without feeling like you have to grocery shop, write down a schedule or get calls every 10 minutes because he can’t do things on his own. I’m not sure how I lucked out with him! I bagged me a good one! haha!

 

This is Betty….she got us around-over 1,000 miles to be exact!

Oregon

Ohhhh Canon Beach-you have a little piece of my heart! I’ve admired this place thru images since I was younger and have always wanted to go see it in person! This was our first adventure and it was everything I hoped it would be. It’s situated so close to a cute little coastal town with the most adorable little art shops and coffee to die for. The day we visited it was a little cloudy….by a little, I mean A LOT cloudy and we even had some rain. If you ask me, it made for some really pretty and dramatic skies. We took our shoes off and played in the water anyways and embraced the raindrops. The sand reflected like glass and it was a reminder that we are so small!

That big rock…that’s Haystack Rock, it’s 235 feet high!

How beautiful are all of the green covered rocks. It’s so calming.

I love this photo!

Hello little friend!

Within minutes of leaving the coast, everything turns green! I love this huge moss covered tree. It reminded me of big antlers!

Portland:

We heard there were mixed reviews with Voo Doo Donuts so we had to go check it out for ourselves. Both Genna and I loved them…..and even had a little fun with ours! haha!

I’m so proud that I only ordered one but look how many options there were!

Multomah FallsI can’t even describe how beautiful it was in person. I remember standing at the base of the waterfall looking up and closing my eyes and thinking about how grateful I was to be there. Every time I travel out of small town PA, I take a minute to just appreciate the fact that I get to see the world. There was a time in my life when none of this even seemed possible. I will never take that for granted.

Mount Hood

We pulled over to take this photo. It came from out of no where. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure either of us really knew what we’d see when the man behind the counter at the falls suggested we make the 2 hour drive to Mt. Hood. We were just driving along when BOOM out of no where we see the snow covered mountain and then got giddy when we realized THAT was where we were going!

And as you can see from the cell phone photos below-it was SO WORTH the drive. It’s hard to believe that the day before we were at the beach!

Y’all…there’s a big big world out there!

Incase you were wandering, Mt. Hood is the tallest mountain in Oregon at 11,250 feet of elevation and is a potentially active stratovolcano in the Cascade Volcanic Arc of northern Oregon. Timberline Lodge is a National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Oregon.

Portland Shanghai Underground Tunnel Tour

So this was kind of cool. We had no idea what were were getting into with this one except that a few locals said that it would be cool to check out! We knew we’d be going “underground” but had no idea that it would be from the side walk. As you can see we accessed the tour from the middle of the walkway-who knew.

According to the website: “From 1850 to 1941, Portland was considered one of the most dangerous ports in the world and earned the moniker “Forbidden City of the West.” The Portland Underground, commonly referred to as the Shanghai Tunnels, was a series of bar and hotel basements linked to each other and to the Willamette River docks by an intricate system of tunnels under the city streets. These tunnels were used for legitimate practices, such as keeping ships’ supplies out of the rain and away from the heavy traffic above. But far more illicit deeds were carried out in the tunnels as well.”

Washington

Do not visit the Seattle Gum Wall if germs freak you out. But while in Rome……

It is intriguing with the colors, textures and of course we left a piece of ours behind!

We couldn’t leave without visiting the infamous Pikes Place Market! So many amazing smells and fresh food. It’s visual overload.

The Seattle Gourmet Food Tour was amazing. I think I’m going to make this one of my new rules when visiting a new city. We were only in the city for maybe 20 minutes when we went on this tour. Not only did we get to try some of the most amazing meals (that I probably would have never ordered otherwise) but we got some history about the city and our guide was super knowledgeable and gave us so many recommendations on places to go and see. We left with full bellies and few new friends!

Fun fact: Genna bought a pack of cotton candy just to ride the Seattle Pier Rides as a prop! haha

This was a must do because it’s so “touristy”. The Seattle Great Wheel was amazing. It was completely enclosed and it went slow so that you could really take in the views.

Speaking of the views…..nothing gave you a better one than the Seattle Space Needle. The bottom image is a little blury but it was the one given to us for free by the Space Needle.

They were doing some work on it while we were there so the entire thing wasn’t open but the glass floors and glass seats allowed you to REALLY take in the views!

I was so excited to take the Ferry to Bainbridge Island along Pier 52. The ride over took roughly 40 minutes and it wasn’t crowded at all. Once we got there we enjoyed the little coastal town, had dinner and did a little window shopping.

The Apricot cider was AMAZING!!

One of the things high on Genna’s list of “must do’s” was the Seattle Kayaking. Luckily for us, they were sorta-kinda calling for rain and no one else showed up for the tour….so we basically had a private tour just for us! it was amazing! We saw sea otters and lots of jelly fish along with another magnificent view of the city from the water.

The next day we headed to Snoqualmie Falls…by far probably one of my favorite days. We had experienced an entire day in the city so this day was an entire day in the wilderness. We hiked, we ate brunch right on the falls and the rainbows were absolutely gorgeous!

I love that you can see all the mist from the falls.

Check out the view from Brunch……the best peach waffles I have EVER had in my life!

They gave us the best seat in the house!

We had to burn off a few calories so we set off for a hike to the bottom. A few miles later we were hanging out in the river right beneath the falls.

I think the most memorable hike we took was during our hike up Tiger Mountain! haha! We didn’t actually look to see what the difficulty level was before attempting the climb and later found it it was difficult. The trail was gorgeous though check out the images below. The switch backs killed us but we made it almost to the top before heading back to get some dinner.

During one of our last stops before heading back to the Air B’n’B was the Seattle Freemont Troll. A huge troll under the Freemont Bridge just outside of the city.

So there ya have it…a glimpse into our adventures! 2 girls, 2 states, 2 cities, thousands of miles covering the beach, city, and mountains. It was epic!

What’s next you ask?? Well we will be planning our next west coast adventure in a “punch bug” or as they call them on the west coast “slug bug” to the beach. I’m requesting a bright and cheery one! haha!